Trying to express in words, picturesque, is innate to all humans, be literates or illiterates. Poetry, novel, story, quotation or even a casual joke emanate from this human desire to use language as a more effective means of communication. The Hindus believe that all sounds and languages originated from the ancient first sacred letters of ‘OM’ also known as Pranava Aksharas. Hence, every letter is a mantra and when used in right combination with pure intentions; they have immense effect on the audience.
What a prose writer tries to express in a 500-page novel and in a 5-page story; a poet is able to express in meagre 5 lines. That is what makes poetry superior to all literary forms of expression. The choice of words and the choice of poetic structure make all the difference in communicating the poet’s heart and in touching the readers’ minds.
Those who already read Dabydeen know him as a poet with matured mind and tender heart.
Tetractys, the mystical geometrical form prayed by Pythagoras was Dabydeen’s chosen poetic form in his poetry collection of WATCHING YOU. Continue reading →

HELENA MARTIN – “Walk Wit’ Me..All Ova Guyana.”

Helena Martin was born 1947 in British Guiana. She taught Kindergarten until her marriage in 1968. Helena and her husband immigrated to Western Australia and currently reside there with their four children and seven grandchildren. Her memoir documents the first twenty-one years of her upbringing.

Back Cover: My memoir is laced with nostalgia and at the same time it is my sincere intention to portray the true essence of the Guyanese culture without offence. Keep in mind that this is not based on the experience of every Guyanese. This was the way I saw and experienced things back then.

The use of colloquialism is of utmost importance; it is the vernacular we understand. It may sound like another language so unless you were born and bred in Guyana you will need to refer to the glossary provided. Folklore and mothers preaching life lessons through proverbs played a large part in Guyanese life.

This is not only an account of the first twenty-one years of my life in Guyana; it also contains anecdotes of visits back to my homeland. You will also find a sprinkling of information pertaining to my new life in Australia. Before immigrating to Australia I believed the sun only rose and set in Guyana; I never imagined another paradise existed on the planet. Continue reading →

Portuguese emigration from Madeira to British Guiana

On May 3, 1835, the first Portuguese landed in what was then British Guiana. In commemoration of that event, Sr M. Noel Menezes looks at the early Portuguese, and the skills they brought with them from Madeira.
(All photos published courtesy of M.N. Menezes, RSM) by Sr M. Noel Menezes, R.S.M – Stabroek May 7th. 2000 (Reprinted courtesy of Kyk-Over-Al, December 1984)

Portugal in crisis

In the 1830s and into the 1850s Portugal was undergoing a series of crises – recurring civil wars between the Constitu-tionalists and the Absolutists, the repercussions of which were felt in Madeira. Many young men jumped at the opportunity to get out of Madeira at any cost and thus evade compulsory military service which was necessary, as Madeira was considered part of metropolitan Portugal. Also, more and more, poverty was becoming a harsh reality of life on the thirty-four mile long, fourteen mile wide island of 100,000 inhabitants. During the first decade of the nineteenth century life for the peasant, the colono who worked the land for the lord of the manor, had be-come even harder. ….

Saving City Hall

Cultural policy and more particularly the preservation of the nation’s material heritage was one area which none of the political parties had much to say about prior to the election, and with all that is going on in the political field currently they certainly have not applied their minds to the matter since. One waits to see whether Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh will give any acknowledgement to the issue in the Budget, although one holds out very little hope that he will; like most of his colleagues he has evinced little interest in such matters.

In fact, the record of the government is abysmal in this department (not, mind you, that that of its predecessor was any better), and the stain which above all others disfigures its image is the destruction of the old New Amsterdam hospital by vandals. That Dr Ramsammy, who was Minister of Health at the time, could issue such placatory statements intended to allay public anxieties about the survival of the structure, while all the time it was being dismantled board by board, speaks volumes about his ingrained philistinism and that of the administration he served. Continue reading →

Sometimes a single unlikely idea can have massive impact across the world. Sir Harold Evans describes about how frustration drove Malcolm McLean, a small-town truck driver, to invent the shipping container. Containerization was born, and it transformed the modern global economy. (Launching a series on Inventions that Shaped History)

Teaching Entrepreneurship

To say that we need to educate our ‘people’ to progress in this 21st century has now become quite clichéd. It is not that we have not explored the exhortation: we have referred earlier this week to the efforts of the Ministry of Education to better deliver the goals of improved literacy and numeracy to our students. The government has also emphasised IT4D – Information Technology for Development and has introduced laptops and Educational TV. Witness the efforts to produce better results at CSEC Maths.

But we have created a vicious cycle. Many students see education as irrelevant and drop out of schools or set low personal goals. Students’ poor performances in turn reinforce educators’ narrow focus on the fundamentals of core subjects – see above – making school feel even more irrelevant to students. Breaking this cycle is critical to our ability to “educate our way to a better economy.”

Subject: Nobel Prize…the forming of a new life!!!

YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE THIS VIDEO….. THE MIRACLE OF OUR COMING TO BE, AS PRESENTED BY THE NOBEL PRIZE SCIENTIST WHO DEVELOPED THE MRI:

Simply miraculous! This is a video on human life from conception to birth using the newest x-ray scanning technology that won its two inventors the Nobel Prize. Image-maker Alexander Tsiaras shares a powerful medical visualization, showing human development from conception to birth and beyond. (Some graphic images.) Continue reading →